Fear Not

"Fear Not" – Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." We mortals are the ones who fear most: on waking, through the day, at night, and even as we speak. This study starts from the fact that God does not merely say "fear not": He gives the reason —His presence, His help, and His sustaining— and that sustaining is daily, not occasional. From there it walks through the valley of shadow, the handover from Moses to Joshua, the contentment born of His presence, and the exchange in Philippians: we give Him the anxiety and He gives His peace.

I. Life itself will test you

A. Understanding God is hard for a mortal: because we are haughty, because we think we deserve everything, because we do not dare to be warriors.

B. Your own life will test you, to see how many carats of spirituality you carry. Gold is measured in carats, and mixed with other metals it goes further, but it is contaminated: the quality is not what we believed.

C. Life does not become easy: we keep up appearances. People ask how you are and you say "fine"; you never say that today you feel awful.

D. What you claim today, tomorrow is not so. Life comes and goes, has circumstances, has deception.

E. And the weakness of a mortal is real: there are days when the body collapses under the load, and there you see how frail our nature is.

II. God does not only say "fear not": He gives the reason (Isaiah 41:10)

A. It is a direct promise for times of fear and weakness, and the reason He gives is threefold: His presence, His help, and His sustaining.

B. That sustaining is daily, not occasional, because life is complicated every day.

C. "I am with thee": when the heart fills with worry, God answers with His nearness.

D. "The Lord isn't hearing me": He does hear; what is missing is persistence. And God does not solve things for us: God works with you so that you solve them. He does not prepare the road: we have to work the road.

E. The promises are forever; they are lost only if a person turns away, because then he has gained other ground and not heaven's.

F. The heart sends messages of insecurity —"you have lost everything", "tomorrow will be hard"— and since the heart governs us, a person wakes asking what today will bring. The day comes, as always; the problem is when we grow tired.

G. We never walk alone. The earth is full of angels; but one does not speak with angels, one speaks with God, who gives them their instructions.

III. The valley of the shadow (Psalm 23:4)

A. These are the darkest moments: pain, danger, loss, uncertainty. All of it becomes a valley of shadow.

B. The psalmist's confidence is not in his own strength, but in the fact that God is present in the middle of the valley.

C. The rod and the staff stand for the shepherd's protection and guidance, who corrects, defends, and leads in love.

D. Faith does not spare us the valleys: it guarantees God's company in them.

E. Fear loses its power when a person remembers "thou art with me". Even in the shadow there is comfort, direction, and hope.

IV. Be strong and of a good courage (Deuteronomy 31:6)

A. Moses says it as the people are about to enter the promised land and he himself is about to die. The emphasis is not on human strength, but on God going ahead and remaining.

B. "He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" reveals God's constant faithfulness, even through changes and every transition.

C. Joshua was the disciple: he walked behind Moses from his youth and was at Sinai. And when Moses was gone he said "here am I", undaunted by the fighting ahead or by a rebellious people.

D. We, on the other hand, hide. And those who hide build nothing; failure lives in folded arms: ruin, pain, sadness, anguish.

E. Life is made of change, uncertainty, and challenge. So whoever wakes up afraid should get up earlier and throw himself into prayer.

F. "Be strong and of a good courage": when a person begins to take heart, it shows, because complaint has been traded for action in faith. And faith requires courage: it is not only asking the Lord to get you out of trouble.

V. Contentment and presence (Hebrews 13:5)

A. "Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Peace does not come from having more, but from trusting God.

B. The reason to be satisfied is God's faithful presence: that we are never alone.

C. The case of Job: God set a limit for the adversary. Job lost his body, his children, his herds, and his wealth; and he was the man of faith, an ordinary human being with nothing supernatural about him. Even his friends ended up crushing him with their arguments. And the trial came to an end.

D. "God doesn't hear me": the truth is that a person is not praying. There is no prayer of convenience: all prayer is communion with God, and it must be constant.

E. Contentment is born of understanding that with God nothing essential is missing. My greatest wealth is not what I own, but the One who promised never to leave me.

F. Fathers and mothers: a child studying and finding work is good, but the essence is that the child seeks God. And whoever stops seeking God, God lets go.

VI. The exchange (Philippians 4:6-7)

A. Paul teaches an exchange: we hand God our anxiety in prayer, and God hands us His supernatural peace.

B. It is not "pray for me": you pray for yourself. The Church has to learn to pray for itself.

C. "Be careful for nothing" is not denying the problems, but bringing them to God with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving; and gratitude activates faith in the middle of the need.

D. "The peace which passeth all understanding" is not emotional calm: it is a steadiness that does not depend on the circumstance but on the presence of God.

VII. Application

A. When fear comes, do not first seek its removal: seek the reason God gives —that He is with you.

B. Stop waiting for God to solve it in your place. He works with you so that you solve it.

C. Unfold your arms. Failure lives there, not in the problem.

D. Learn to pray for yourself; do not hand your anxiety over to someone else's prayer.

E. Measure your wealth by the One who promised not to leave you, not by what you own.

F. Teach your own to seek God; achievements are worth applauding, but they are not the essence.